The verdant scenery of the Basque Country stands out from the rest of Spain and to some seems more akin to southern Germany. Comparisons between the two regions do not end there, as both depend on high-cost, high-tech industrial businesses driven by privately-owned companies.

Guillermo Amann is chief of staff at Ormazabal, an electrical components company based near Bilbao, with sales of €525m ($821m). He says: “The secret of the success of the Basque Country and Ormazabal is the idiosyncrasy of the people. They have the mentality of an entrepreneur: they like to bet their money in industrial matters.”